Yoga and Children
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Yoga and Children Compiled by: Trisha Lamb Last Revised: April 27, 2006 © 2004 by International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) International Association of Yoga Therapists P.O. Box 2513 • Prescott • AZ 86302 • Phone: 928-541-0004 E-mail: [email protected] • URL: www.iayt.org The contents of this bibliography do not provide medical advice and should not be so interpreted. Before beginning any exercise program, see your physician for clearance. NOTE: See also the “Education” bibliography and the “ADHD” bibliography, as well as bibliographies for other specific disorders. Many of the resources cited in the “Education” bibliography also are cited in the present bibliography. In addition, for those focusing solely on adolescents, all citations in the present bibliography related to adolescents are gathered in a separate “Teenagers” bibliography. Benefits of Yoga for Children* • Cultivates conscious awareness • Increases self-awareness and self-confidence • Teaches children to be gentle with themselves and others • Develops focus and concentration • Develops balance and mental equilibrium • Develops discipline and a love of learning • Improves performance in all areas of life, including schoolwork • Relieves stress and provides a greater sense of general well-being • Increases flexibility, coordination, and strength • Assists in the performance of sports activities * Adapted from the list “Benefits of Yoga for Children at a Glance” by Pamela Hollander, M.A., Indigo Yoga™ for Children, http://www.indigoyoga.com/aboutIY.htm. “The American Academy of Pediatrics does not have an official stance on the issue, but some doctors say the stretching and relaxation involved in yoga can be beneficial for children. ‘As kids get older and their bones grow, they lose flexibility,’ says Dr. Hank Chambers, director of Sports Medicine at Children’s Hospital and Health Center in San Diego. ‘This is one of the biggest causes of growing pains.’ Chambers, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon, says he often recommends yoga-like stretches to his patients. While yoga that is very physically demanding might not be good for kids, stretching and relaxation, he says, is fine: ‘I’ve never seen one injury from yoga in 20 years.’” —From an article by Lindsay Boyd, “Kids are Finding a Place on the Yoga Mat,” The San Diego Union-Tribune, January 17, 2004 “In a 2001 survey, the American Academy of Pediatrics asked some of its members about their recommendations to patients on the use of complimentary and alternative medicine . Of 733 respondents, 55 percent said they recommended yoga as part of an asthma treatment regimen, and 24 percent said they recommended it for children with ADHD. “The idea he brought away from looking at the survey, said Dr. Fernando Rustia, 48, a pediatrician at the Aurora Health Care clinic in Mount Pleasant, was that many physicians are aware of yoga but are not that familiar with it. ‘And I’m not really that familiar with yoga,’ he said. 2 “If you’re considering putting your child in yoga, or any organized program, it’s important to consider your child’s physical and mental development; if they’re unable to comprehend the activity, or if they’re physically unable to perform it, they may feel like failures, Rustia said. “Activities of 20 or 30 minutes’ duration are best. ‘That’s probably all that they can handle.’ “And the activities should not be too rigid. ‘They tend to do better with the unstructured, spontaneous and kind of a free-flowing activity,’ Rustia said. “Only a disk or spinal problem might preclude a child from participating in one of his classes; such problems should be checked with a physician first, [Yoga teacher Joe] Mayer said. “Rustia agreed. Any exercise for children should not include excessive flexing or extensions of the neck —the kind of exercise college football players do—because children’s growth plates are not stable, he said. Yoga [asana] would be acceptable for children of about age 7 and older, he said . .” —From an article by David Steinkraus, “Yoga Isn’t All about Muscles, Not Even for Kids,” The Journal Times (Racine), April 20, 2005 Books, Articles, and Workshops Abell, Tracy. Bear claw mama: Yoga with a youngster teaches a whole new way to relax. Mothering, Nov 1998. Available online: http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m0838/1998_Nov/54308997/p1/article.jhtml?term=yoga. ABC yoga series @ Carver Elementary School. United States Yoga Association. For more information: http://www.usyoga.org/kidphotos.html. The Yoga Science Box© was written after a pilot program with K-12 teachers in the San Francisco Unified School District. Program content complies with California Department of Education curriculum guidelines. The 1999-2000 Yoga Science program includes Yogasthma©: Seven Steps to Asthma Control. It is designed to empower the children with the knowledge and skills to control their asthma. It includes yoga breathing and stretching exercises, an indoor garden to produce fresh air and a series of fun workshops conducted with St. Luke’s Hospital. Abrams, A. I. The effects of meditation on elementary school students. Dissertation Abstracts International, 1977, 37(9-A):5689. A child’s garden of yoga. Available online: http://yoga.about.com/health/yoga/cs/childrenandteens/index.htm?rnk=r8&terms=yoga. Albin, Stacy. Yoga: Youth classes say "Relax! Strike a pose." Newsday, 8 Feb 2001. 3 Alexander, Karen. Yoga at school poses a learning opportunity. Classroom: Teachers note calming effect, better concentration among their students. Los Angeles Times, 28 April 2002. “While adults are flocking to yoga classes in record numbers, these students are benefiting from a 5-year-old program in San Francisco that aims to teach schoolteachers yoga proficiency so they can take its benefits into the classroom. “The brainchild of U.S. Yoga Assn. founder and San Francisco Yoga Studio executive director Tony Sanchez, the program has trained dozens of teachers so far. “Sanchez and his wife, Sandy Wong, started the program pro bono, and it has expanded with grants from the San Francisco Education Fund and other foundations. Teachers from two additional schools will be trained starting in September, and the couple are applying for a federal grant that would enable them to reach every district school. “‘School itself can be stressful, and a lot of these children come from dysfunctional families or one-parent families. The stress their parents experience transfers to them,’ said Sanchez. “‘One of the basics of yoga is to be giving, and we decided that it was something we should do instead of just using yoga to make money. We felt we should be giving something back.’ “Sanchez and Wong hope that their yoga regimen will become a model for schools throughout the Bay Area. Their program, called ABC Yoga, teaches children 12 poses. “Some teachers take it a step further with the Yoga Science Box, a curriculum designed by Wong, which incorporates yoga into lessons on physics, geometry and anatomy . “Gloria Siech, who heads the physical education program for the San Francisco Unified School District, says yoga is a powerful fitness tool for young people because it is low-stress and noncompetitive. “‘It’s individual, and each kid can do it as far as they can go. There’s no keeping score, and there’s nobody telling them that’s not good enough,’ Siech said. ‘It helps to center kids and helps them concentrate. They are able to calm down and breathe, and the teachers see the improvement immediately . .’ “‘It’s so helpful at this age,’ Camp said. ‘They are finding their bodies, and their bodies are changing so much. This helps them appreciate the diversity around them. In one class you can have a very tall kid and a heavy-set kid and a kid with some physical limitations all doing the same poses. It’s very unifying for them.’” Ambika. You can not pull at the grass to make it grow—but the earth is enriched when children do yoga. Bindu, no. 6, pp. 6-7 Amenqual, Carolina. Kids yoga helps with mind, body and spirit. The Galveston County Daily News, 5 Jun 2005. “‘Yoga carries out the sadness, the stress and the anger,’ she says. “It’s like taking a shower— only inside.” 4 “King, who began teaching yoga 25 years ago, says bringing body, mind and spirit together helps ‘break through mental, emotional and physical blocks.’ “Studies have shown yoga helps develop body awareness, self-control, self-esteem, flexibility, coordination and concentration. “‘Kids are under a lot of stress (and) yoga gives kids time out,’ says King, stressing that one of the benefits is that they get to express themselves in a noncompetitive environment. ‘Once they begin to focus on mind, body and breathing, that trickles down into their choices.’ “King and colleague Penny Scrutchin will teach yoga for kids between the ages of 6 and 12 throughout this month. “Children will be taught basic breathing techniques and postures in an effort to equip them with ‘lifelong stress management tools.’ “‘We’ll try to teach them where they are in space,’ Scrutchin says. ‘It’s getting them to where they can control emotions.’ ”To adapt to their fairly short attention span, animal imagery, music and uplifting stories of characters seeking wisdom told in a playful manner will replace the Sanskrit terminology and more serious approach used in yoga classes for adults. “‘We’ll keep it simple and fun for the kids,’ King says. ‘It’s not about perfection; it’s about development. Yoga helps you become all you can be.’” American Yoga Association disapproves of Yoga for children under 16. [Yoga Research and Education Center: We are not aware of any other organization with this same objection. Some Indian Yoga teachers recommend that children under the age of 5 or 6 not practice âsana, and most Indian Yoga lineages recommend that prânâyâma, other than the bee breath and natural deep breathing, not be practiced by children.] From Charlotte Moore, “Healthy Living: Seeking the Exercise and Stress Relief of Yoga, Some Kids Are Ready to Strike a Pose,” The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 18 Jun 2002, Home Section, p.